Judge Moves Court To Witness` Home

October 29, 1986|By JEAN DUBAIL, Staff Writer

Robert Lynn couldn`t come to court, so the court went to Robert Lynn.

Lynn, a Palm Beach County sheriff`s investigator, is a prosecution witness in the first-degree murder trial of Leonard Spencer and Vernon Amos. Because of severe injuries suffered in a recent auto accident, he cannot travel from his Boca Raton home to the County Courthouse in West Palm Beach.

So the court -- Circuit Judge Richard Burk, a court reporter, a prosecutor and two defense attorneys -- moved to Lynn`s dining room Tuesday afternoon to videotape his testimony.

Lynn, who wears a neck brace, said he could not have taken part in the trial without the unusual out-of-court arrangement.

``I`ve got a broken neck, three broken ribs and a paralyzed arm,`` he said during a break in the questioning. ``I can`t travel in a car.``

Judge Burk, puffing on his pipe and rocking in Lynn`s living-room rocker, interrupted once or twice to make sure that Lynn wasn`t too uncomfortable.

``I hope we`re not killing the witness,`` he said.

Amos, 23, and Spencer, 28, both of Belle Glade, are accused of killing a convenience-store clerk and a tavern customer during a June 13 crime spree in suburban West Palm Beach.

Lynn, a crime scene investigator, took pictures and collected other evidence, including a gun, outside the English Pub on Military Trail.

The pictures include several graphic shots of one victim, 29-year-old Robert Bragman, who prosecutors say was gunned down when he tried to keep Spencer and Amos from stealing his truck. Burk was needed to rule on possible objections to introduction of evidence by defense attorneys Nelson Bailey and Craig Boudreau.

The judge said it is not unusual to use videotaped testimony in trial, particularly when the witnesses are children. But it is rare, he added, for a judge to be present.